Top 5 tech cars of the 2014 New York International Auto Show

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Technology is front and center at the 2014 New York International Auto Show. Sometimes it’s offbeat tech, such as a flying car, but this year the focus is more on driver assistance and infotainment services coming to a wider array of cars. Even small cars are loading up on driver tech, such as forward collision warning and lane departure warning, because the technology is cheaper. They’re also in demand from boomers downsizing into the same cars Millennials buy; the older drivers don’t want to give up the tech they had on their big car or SUV.

The 2014 NYIAS also features quick redesigns of cars only a year or two old, such as the Toyota Camry and Honda Civic. Automakers are getting quicker at fixing what focus groups and reviewers tell them. Most new cars have upgraded infotainment systems; several are showing Apple’s CarPlay. More have LCD displays standard even with no navigation, to better display infotainment and to provide backup cameras in advance of the federal mandate, now set for 2018.

The show runs, as it does each year, for 10 days starting the Friday before Easter at New York City’s Javits Convention Center. Here are ExtremeTech’s picks for the best cars, based on their technology.

Kia Sedona: New UVO, business-class rear seating

A minivan is among our top tech cars because the 2015 Kia Sedona brings in the latest round of the excellent Kia UVO (your voice) infotainment / telematics system. This edition of UVO adds these self-explaining features: geo-fencing, speed alert, curfew alert, and driver score. As if a teen already mortified to be driving a minivan would want to drive about more and farther than necessary. No matter, this is actually a “midsize multi-purpose vehicle.” Right.

The dashboard buttons are big and well lettered. There is Audi-level driver tech: adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, surround view monitor. A smart tailgate as on the Hyundai Genesis opens when you walk up with the key on your person. The Kia UVO eServices can grab Pandora, iHeart Radio, Siri Eyes Free, and Google Local Search from the Google Play and iTunes stores for your smartphone and control by the head unit.

A minivan is the most comfortable way to haul seven or eight. Second-row Slide-n-Stow seats slide all the way forward against the front seats to maximize cargo. Now the Sedona may also be the best way to carry four adults. Opt for the middle row lounge seats with leg rests that pop out, just like seats at the front of the plane.

Nissan Rogue boasts camera-based rear view mirror

The redesigned 2014 Nissan Rogue blew away the competition, and as a result sales are up 75%. The competition is so far back in the rear view mirror that Nissan needed a better way to see them. Enter the Smart Rear Vew Mirror. It’s a camera mounted high up in the rear window of this compact SUV. It displays the view on a LCD screen built into the full width of the 4:1 aspect ratio inside rear mirror. Don’t like the view? Flip a switch on the back side and it reverts to a dumb old glass mirror.

For now, it’s a prototype, likely on future Nissans. It doesn’t take the place of the backup camera (mounted low). Pierre Loing, Nissan’s North American VP for product planning, mused on the possibility that it could be paired with rear-facing side cameras to provide a wrap-around view that leaves no blind spots. If there’s a single gee-whiz technology of the New York auto show, Nissan has it. Surprisingly this was on the Rogue rather than the swoopier, newer Nissan Murano midsize SUV (photo) launched at the show.